Our last post looking down a 2000 foot drop into the Black Canyon of the Gunnision had us looking up -- so today we assaulted Maui's Mt. Haleakala (Holly- och- ala) at 10,323 feet above sea level. Although Mauna Kea at 13,803 feet is Hawaii's tallest mountain (and is taller than Everest if you disregard the ocean,) Mauna Kea's location on the big island posed a problem, so we "settled" for magnificent Haleakala.
Unlike our recent assault on Pike's Peak where the journey began at 6000 feet elevation in Colorado Springs, our assault of Mt. Haleakala started at dawn at sea level.
The climb ended here at the University of Hawaii's Mt. Haleakala Astronomic Observatory where they have a telescope trained on Pyongyang and the dear leader.
As our regular readers already know, 6000footdrop.com gets a thrill from five-digit elevations (and Phish and smart beautiful women.) Unlike Colorado, the Hawaii timberline is at 7000 feet.
Many of the others on the Haleakala summit assault paid over $100 to be carted there in a mini-van only to be unceremoniously dumped onto a bicycle for the ride down. Our transportation cost less and did not require us to sit in a mini-van next to any anxious complaining fat midwesterners and their texting teenagers for 2 hours.
Here's a perfect crater for sandboarding, although there is no lift back up.
Here is the view from the top looking toward the cloudy West Maui Mountains that occupy the other lobe of this touristed isle.
Maui's Haelakala (and the big island's Hawaii Volcanoes) both became National Parks under Woodrow Wilson (Wilson!) in 1916 -- before Hawaii statehood and even before the Grand Canyon was designated as a National Park. It was also 30 degrees cooler at the top of Mt. Haleakala than at the Kaanapali beach -- a nice tourist deterrent.
See you this afternoon at the blow hole!
Hiking in and around Haleakala can be a memorable experience, but you better come prepared! The elevation makes you tire easily and sometimes the changes in elevation make a short hike more tiring that it would normally be
Posted by: haleakala national park | 05/17/2011 at 01:13